A target pigeon of the so-called Pro ZZ type and a launcher therefor of the Montefeltro 75 type are known from commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,384 issued Mar. 7, 1978 and filed June 3, 1976 as a continuation-in-part of abandoned application 604,069 filed Aug. 12, 1975, and from commonly owned and copending U.S. Patent application No. 762,019, filed Jan. 24, 1977 (now U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,532). In addition, commonly owned U.S. Patent application Nos. 892,921 and 892,922, both filed Apr. 3, 1978 disclose a so-called Universal target pigeon and a launcher therefor.
The target system described in these applications and patents, all of whose disclosures are herewith incorporated, represent a considerable advance over the prior art. Nonetheless, several disadvantages remain.
In particular, the reassembly of the target pigeon of the Pro ZZ type is normally relatively difficult. The small feet formed on the witness cap must be carefully aligned with the respective notches formed on the wing of the propeller part, and the device must be carefully fitted together in order to assemble it. When a target pigeon is to be reused this therefore increases the operating costs of an installation employing such reusable target pigeons. At the same time any errors in reassembly will normally appear when the target pigeon is rotated at high speed immediately prior to launching, causing a "no-bird" or misfiring that requires the shooter to wait while the prematurely separated target pigeon is replaced with another on the launcher.
Another disadvantage of these systems is that even in the reusable pigeon the relatively narrow ring surrounding the witness disk to either side of the web represents a very fragile part of the assembly. Thus even when made of a relatively heavy-duty material, such as the polycarbonate sold under the trade name Lexan, a direct hit on this ring will often permanently damage the otherwise extremely rugged target pigeon.
Finally, a disadvantage of these systems is that the two parts of the target pigeon do not always separate when impacted. This most frequently occurs when a pellet strikes the ring of the body part of the target pigeon and is deflected thereby without impacting the witness disk directly. The result is no score for the shooter, who in reality has struck the target. Obviously this is vexatious for a casual shooter and intolerable during serious shooting competition.